


The Inferno Burning in his Heart

by therearenobananasinthesky



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, captain america winter soldier AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 12:22:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therearenobananasinthesky/pseuds/therearenobananasinthesky
Summary: Since Warren died back in the 1940s, Will hasn't had much of a will to live. Combined with the confusion of adjusting to the 21st century, Will found himself struggling to keep afloat.But now he's supposed to be taking down this assassin that looks suspiciously like his dead lover.
Relationships: Magenta & Will Stronghold, Warren Peace/Will Stronghold, Will Stronghold & Layla Williams
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	The Inferno Burning in his Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I have gone through almost every single will/warren fic on this website, and realized that there was not a single captain america au where will is steve and warren is bucky, and that is an absolute crime.

When Will flew the plane into the ice, there weren’t many powered people in the world.

The only ones he knew of were him and Warren. But then Warren died, so it was only him.

Since Warren died, Will didn’t really have the motivation to live. Sure, there was a war going on, but he couldn’t imagine doing anything without his best friend since childhood.

But now, it turned out that flying a plane full of bombs into an iceberg won’t kill you. And he was found, 70 years later.

Now, powers seemed to be as common as a beggar in the Depression. But apparently, he was legendary as a hero, and they wanted him on this elite team of heroes to handle global emergencies. 

But Will honestly didn’t know if he could.

The other members of the team seemed nice enough. There was Gwen, who could control technology (and apparently her grandmother was the SS officer that trained him and Warren back in the war, Sue Tenny). Then there was Penny, who could clone herself. There was Lash, who could stretch his limbs, and Speed, who had super speed. And it wasn’t like they were mean or anything, he just… couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do anything without Warren, not really.

The main thing getting him through this strange new world with weird-looking televisions was this chloropath he had met named Layla. She was a lower-level agent of whatever government body had found him. She was the closest he had felt to living since Warren died. Layla introduced him to her friends, and they got along fine.

Layla’s friends were the closest he had gotten in this new century to any meaningful connection. Even so, everything seemed pointless without his best friend, his lover.

He could barely believe that that sort of thing was okay now. Growing up in the 1930s, he and Warren had to sneak around and hide in order to love each other like they wanted to. He had only found out because one of Layla’s friends, Magenta, who was a shapeshifter, mentioned going on a date with another girl.

His eyes had widened hearing this. “You… you can do that now?” he asked in hopeful wonder.

The girl glared at him, though. “Look, I get you’re from the 40s, but that doesn’t mean you get to be homophobic.”

And god, he knew things had changed since he went in the ice. He still found himself flinching at slurs that were no longer slurs. But he did not expect this. “No, I— I just… can’t imagine that the world is that much better. So anyone can love who they want to love, I could—” he cut himself off. Even if it was true that you could be gay in the 21st century, he could hardly believe it, the conditioning that he and Warren put themselves through to not out themselves shining through.

Magenta relaxed, “Well, I don’t know about _love_ per se, but yeah. I mean you can love anyone, but me and Ashley were just a fling, I haven’t been in a serious relationship in a while.”

One of Layla’s other friends, Zach, who could glow, nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to have a committed relationship in our line of work. Though I guess you wouldn’t know, considering you had a pretty heated relationship in the 40s.”

Will’s eyes widened. Fuck, they knew. They knew about him and Warren. This was bad, this was very bad, he had to deflect. “I don’t… I don’t know if I would call it _heated_ , I mean, it was just—”

Magenta chuckled. “Relax, Wonderboy, all of the history textbooks tell about the ‘blooming relationship’ between you and Agent Tenny.”

At that, Will burst out laughing. He thinks it might have been the first time he smiled since Warren was killed. “Oh my God, no,” he could barely make out a word between his guffaws. “Sue and I were never— oh my God, that’s funny, we were just friends.”

It was actually Layla that convinced him to join up, though he still didn’t go with the elite team. He was delegated to lower-level missions, usually ones where Layla was with him, but sometimes one of her other friends. 

This was one such mission. One that required stealth, they sent him, Layla, and her friend Magenta. They were tracking down some sort of assassin that had been hunting since the 50s and seemed to be physically unchanged, though he was so elusive that clear pictures were hard to come by. The assassin went by many names, but the one most known: the Inferno.

The Inferno had fire powers, which Will wouldn’t have thought would make for a good assassin, but honestly, what did he know about this century?

They had intelligence that suggested that the Inferno would be striking again today, in attempting to assassinate the President. The goal of their mission was to protect the President and apprehend the Inferno.

Before they even got there though, their car was attacked — by someone with fire powers. He made eye contact with Layla, and her nod confirmed: this was the Inferno.

Will flew up to chase the assassin, as Layla used her powers to block off the highway with the trees at the edge of the interstate. Though the assassin could probably burn through them, it would take up time.

The Inferno may have run fast, but Will could fly faster. As he caught up with him, he tackled the Inferno from the air. In doing so, the muzzle that the man had worn flew off, and what he saw underneath made his blood run cold.

“Warren?” He could barely believe his eyes. He had thought that Warren was dead, but here he was, in the flesh. Why Warren would be killing the good guys, Will did not know, but he would find out. He’d _have_ to find out.

But the recognition in Will’s eyes was not reflected in Warren’s. Instead, he glared at Will, with an amount of hatred Will hadn’t believed possible to come from Warren. “Who the hell is Warren?”

Will let go of Warren in shock. How did he not remember him? He thought back through their years together. They had been friends since they were six, and dating since they were 16. Of course, they had to hide it (that was another thing that marveled him about this century, that you could be in a relationship with another man and not be ostracized). They had so many memories together, from the time Will got sick and started floating without realizing it, to the time when they went to Coney Island and went on the rollercoasters until Warren puked.

And… and Warren remembered none of it. Will felt immobilized by the pain he felt. The pain was somehow worse than when he died — or really, he mused, when he thought Warren died. He collapsed to his knees. Distantly he recognized Warren burning a hole through the trees and the other two making their way towards him, but he couldn’t really see through the tears.

“What happened, Will? You’re supposed to be the most talented hero since the Commander and Jetstream, you had him under control.” Magenta’s voice ran through the ringing in his ears. He tried to respond, but all that made out was a sob. Layla and Magenta ushered him back into the car, though everything seemed blurry.

Because all he could focus on was that Warren was alive. He was alive, but _his_ Warren was trapped somewhere beneath the cold assassin he met that day.

**Author's Note:**

> gonna be honest, it was kind of hard writing this with absolutely no memory of the plot of the Winter Soldier besides the "who the hell is bucky" line. I hope I did it justice anyway!


End file.
